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Ration Recipe: Beef Biscuit Roll

Cooking on a Ration by Marjorie Mills came to my rescue yesterday. I've been in a cooking slump lately, and some days are a real struggle. Part of me wants to just dive in and follow a month of the Health-for-Victory's rationing menus. It would be hugely instructive and I wouldn't have to do any planning myself. I don't know if my family would like it though. Some of the recipes, as I've found, are not the most appetizing, but at least they're nutritious.

Anyway, I adore Cooking on a Ration and awhile ago I made a list of all the recipes I was interested in trying. Beef Biscuit Roll was one of these. It's essentially a savory "cinnamon roll" using biscuit dough and ground beef. It doesn't sound that glamorous, but man, it's good!

As you can see - they really do look like cinnamon rolls with ground beef. The filling utilizes ground beef, chopped onions, chopped green peppers, salt and pepper, and I added in minced celery. Any leftover biscuit dough, I rolled up and put in the pan too - just in case my kids didn't like the rolls.

It was a miracle, folks - everyone ate it and liked it! Even my picky 5 year old. I couldn't believe it! Who wouldn't love this stuff - biscuit dough rolled up with that savory filling and a beef gravy with a touch of garlic powder poured over the top. Oh, my! It really was so good!

The only thing I would have done differently would be to put foil on the top near the end of baking to keep the ground beef from becoming too browned since the recipe instructs you to brush oil over the tops.

I used my favorite H-for-V biscuit recipe for the "regulation biscuit dough":

Blend dry ingredients, cut in butter. Add milk and combine with a fork just until it comes together. You might need to add a little more milk because the whole wheat flour seems to make it drier. Knead on a floured surface no more than 10-12 strokes. Roll out the dough and proceed with the Beef Biscuit Roll recipe. Don't roll the biscuit dough too thinly - it will tear when you roll it all up.

Here is the recipe for Beef Biscuit Roll! You really have to try this one!

P.S. I was a busy cook yesterday - I even made a rhubarb & berry pie (from our own rhubarb for the first time - yay!) using my newest acquisition - The Joy of Cooking 1945 edition. I am so glad I got this book. It fills in all the gaps of every recipe I could want with all my other ration cookbooks. The pie turned out wonderfully, and the best thing is that I think I found the origin of one of my favorite pies we used to get from an old neighbor lady when I was growing up. I was looking in the index at the back under "Pies" and found it - Pineapple Meringue Pie! Hooray! That pie is so tasty. I'll have to make it and post about it. Hardly anyone has heard of this pie and it really is so yummy. You simply must know how to make it! And I'm happy to share. :-)

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It's here!!! The Wartime Rationing Menu Challenge has finally arrived!
Are you as thrilled as I am? I've been working steadily on this project for two months - trying out test recipes, choosing menus for the next six months, typing everything up, formatting and getting it ready to share. It's been a lot of work, but I'm so excited to share these recipes with you all. It's been hard not to get cooking already!
So, are you ready?

First up, I want to put in a disclaimer. I'm starting this ration menu challenge, and I'm going to follow it the best I can, but I'm just like you - busy with life and all the little moments of chaos that come up when they're the least expected. This isn't a hardcore challenge. Remember that it's for fun, for learning about a cool era of historical cooking in America, and to get yourself into your kitchen trying out some new recipes! If you find some fabulous new favorites, even better.

Grapefruit
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Orange slices
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If ever there was a myth about history it would be this: Things were dirt cheap back then.

Were they really?
And this is where I rub my hands together and cackle with geeky glee. Just like we shouldn't judge our ancestors solely based on current standards and social norms, we shouldn't judge prices of yesteryear by today's dollar value.

I'll give you some examples.

(And don't worry. I'm not going to get super technical or get all crazy on the math, because Math is not my strongest subject. I'll fully admit I got my math-savvy husband to help me remember the equations I learned from my college economics class.)

I was looking in one of my Health-for-Victory meal planning guide from 1943. They stated that if you followed their meal plan, you could expect to spend between $14 - $16 a week on groceries. You're probably thinking, WOW! I'd love to pay $14/week for groceries! But what's the value of 1943's $14 in our current year of 2015?